"Believe me, it is. The only real problem is getting out of the building."

"I'm listening," I said.

"The first trick isn't getting in, it's staying in." A wave of childlike enthusiasm washed over his face as he began to describe the details. "The Gallery closes at 6:00 pm, Sunday through Thursday, and is only open for private parties on Saturdays. You'll need to go into the Gallery about 5:00 or 5:30 on a regular business day, carrying a small fanny pack for the tools you'll need. Minutes before 6:00, you'll go into the women’s bathroom and wait."

"Don't they check the bathrooms?"

"They do, but they only check them after the Gallery is closed, and only one at a time. The guard will check the men’s room first. When you hear the guard enter the men’s room, quickly and silently go to the trashcan standing between the men’s and women’s bathrooms and climb inside. It has a top that will conceal you and is large enough for you to sit in comfortably for several hours. You should wait inside until dark, when the guards settle into their normal routine, then get out of the trashcan after you hear a guard pass. If they keep to their schedule, you'll have twenty minutes to get the painting and get out."

"How do you know they check the men’s room first?" I interjected.

"Because I tried it. Besides, it's habit. When you think of going to the bathroom which one do you go to?"

I nodded, "I see your point."

"What about the motion detectors?"

He shook his head. "They're only for show. They can't use them because of the rats."

"Rats?"

"Yes," he laughed. "There is an ancient saying about the city of Carthage, where modern Tunis stands today. It's said that if the foreigners ever outnumber the original inhabitants of Carthage, the rats, that Hannibal will return from the dead to protect them. Hannibal still rests, they say, because the rats outnumber the humans five to one. I saw four inside the Gallery as large as house cats, and if they're in there during the day then there will be ten times as many at night. I do business with curators all over the world and they all complain of the same problem with the types of sensors used in the Gallery, the systems cannot be adjusted to discern between mice, rats, and humans. Modern systems use lasers that scan the room down to six inches above the floor to avoid the problem, but the Tunisians don't have that system."

"Okay," I said, conceding his point for the moment. "What about the pressure sensitive mounts?"